Carry On, Simon
by Bookworm and Goldi-Sox
Summary: Simon is back for his 8th year at Watford! How will he survive the threat of the Insidious Humdrum? Mix that with the drama of being a teenager, at school, and you can guess what shenanigans occur. Our interpretation of Magicath's story Carry On, Simon!
1. Simon Says

Simon sighed, looking up at Watford, at the academy that had been his home for the last seven years. It hadn't changed much during that time, and for a minute Simon could almost forget about the Insidious Humdrum, and what he was expected to do.

"Are you going to just stand there staring up gormlessly all day Snow?" came just about the least welcome voice Simon had ever heard, that of his roommate- Tyrannus Basilton Pitch.

"I thought I would, yeah, and block the entrance so that gits like you can't get in this year," Simon snapped in reply, something about Baz's tone just getting on his nerves.

"By all means go ahead and do that," Baz said snarkily, "I'll just go around to the side entrance."

Truth be told Simon had forgotten all about that other, lesser used entrance until Baz mentioned it.

"Well…" Simon began, but luckily he was saved from having to come up with something witty by the appearance of "Penelope," Simon said gratefully.

"Hello Simon, Baz, how were your summers?" the girl asked.

"Fine," Baz mumbled while sidling past Simon into Watford. Simon, on the other hand, immediately launched into a blow by blow account of his holiday back at the orphanage.

Simon and Penelope began walking through Watford's picturesque grounds, towards the memories of the six years they'd spent together. Simon prattled on over numerous aspects of his rather ordinary summer as they entered the Dining Hall. Out of habit Simon's eyes found a girl, her almost white hair sparkling under the lights, face enthralled in conversation. Agatha was so beautiful it almost hurt Simon.

"Agatha!" Penelope called running towards the girl. Simon watched as they hugged, Agatha's face peering over Penelope's shoulder giving Simon one of her beautiful smiles like it was a gift. That's when he saw Baz. Baz was sitting in the seat next to Agatha's, the seat that Simon usually occupied.

"I swear you've grown at least an inch since I last saw you! And he's let his hair grow, hasn't he Penny?" This last remark was directed at Penelope who looked at him with a shrewd gaze.

"Still not as tall as me." Baz muttered.

Two spots of red highlighted Simon's cheeks and he decided in that moment that he could not imagine another year as Baz's roommate without attempting to kill him.

"Baz," Agatha chided, releasing Simon to scold Baz.

Penelope gave Simon a sympathetic look over their heads. Simon sat next to her and gave her a weak smile. Just another year at Watford.

The Mage had not spoken yet. This in itself was a strange occurrence that had only happened once before (when the Mage had gorged himself on too many pumpkin rolls). Instead the vice head (Simon could never remember her name, he'd never taken any of her classes) spoke, reminding them that these were tough times but that Watford was just as safe as ever.

"Yeah right," Penelope whispered to Simon, "the Mage isn't here, and have you noticed how the class numbers have gone down." Simon hadn't until she mentioned it, but as he looked around he realised that there weren't as many people there as usual and the people who were there looked apprehensive.

"Actually Penelope," Baz butted in, "most people are just paranoid and stupid, as if the Insidious Humdrum can be that dangerous, especially if Snow is supposed to defeat it," he sneered.

Agatha, much to Simon's chagrin, actually giggled at Baz's remark, before quickly apologizing after seeing Simon's face.

"I don't know," Penelope started, "the Mage certainly seems to be taking the Humdrum seriously."

Baz snorted, not even dignifying that with a response as everyone began to eat the food on the tables.

After the meal, Simon was exhausted, but as he left the hall, the Mage jumped out of the shadows. "Hello Simon, how are you today?" he asked.

"Just fine thank you sir," Simon replied, after he calmed down a bit from his fright.

"That's good," said the Mage, "well, I'll be seeing you, you'd better get going on up to your dormitory," he said jovially while walking away. Simon stared after him in disbelief, not noticing Baz walking up behind him until too late.

"Staring gormlessly again Snow," Baz remarked with a sneer, "It seems to be your default expression."

Simon almost jumped out of his skin, spending slightly too long trying to think of a comeback while Baz sneered at him.

"Well, your default expression seems to be brooding- oh wait- that's in the instruction booklet isn't it? How to be a Pitch?"

Baz leant against the wall, his grey eyes seeming to sparkle as they looked down at Simon.

"I think you need better comebacks."

"And I think we should just ignore each other."

Baz didn't answer.

"Baz?"

Simon was starting to get annoyed. Baz was looking at him with an air of contempt.

"Answer me."

Baz folded himself to the ground, his limbs unnaturally long, and took off his ring, rolling it around his hands and smiled- or was it grimaced- up at Simon.

That did it; Simon really didn't like people ignoring him. And that's when it clicked. Baz was someone who, at times, didn't even deserve the breath to curse him, and this was one of those times. Simon turned on his heel and marched off in the direction of the dormitory that they shared.

"Snow?" Baz called after Simon's retreating back, "the dormitory's locked for some reason…." But Simon never heard, as Baz's whisper was marred by his chuckles.

When Baz caught up to Simon he was standing outside their dormitory looking thunderous.

"What did you do?" Simon demanded, not even looking at Baz.

"Don't look at me Snow, I didn't do anything." Baz replied.

"Of course you didn't, you never do anything do you?" Simon said nastily.

"Now, now Snow, obviously you didn't use your brain, have you tried unlocking it?" Baz asked.

"Of course I have but…" Simon trailed off mumbling the end of his statement.

"What was that Snow?" Baz queried, grinning at Simon's discomfort.

"I'm not all that good at unlocking spells, I couldn't really remember that many." Simon said, not looking Baz in the eyes.

"Let's see if this one works," Baz sighed, "Simon says the door should open." With that the door opened, allowing the boys in.

"Why didn't I know that spell?" Simon asked crossly.

"Because it is an advanced spell," Baz replied, sitting on his bed to remove his shoes, "It can be used for almost anything."

"Really?" Simon said in disbelief, "I suppose I should remember that one then."

"Can you just stop your inane chattering," Baz said tiredly, "I'm going to bed."

"Fine then," Simon said in reply, stomping into the bathroom.

Simon didn't really know what he wanted to do in the bathroom, in actual fact he just wanted to get as far away from Baz as the small dormitories allowed. Leaning against the sink Simon looked at his reflection in the mirror. Brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin. A lot of brown as a matter of fact. But Simon couldn't consider the boy in the mirror a hero- even after seven years of being told he was. Simon brushed his teeth relishing in the minty taste and then returned to the darkness of the room that was filled with Baz's sleepless breathing. Simon ignored the book that was open on his desk- assuming that Baz had put a spell on it- and pulled down the covers on his bed, gladly welcoming sleep.

Simon woke to the noise of frantic knocking on his door. Sleepily, his eyes only open a crack; he peered over at Baz's bed. It was empty. This woke Simon considerably. He stumbled out of bed; his casual clothes rumpled and creased from the night, and tried to open the door. It was locked. A curse exploded from Simon's mouth as he dug his wand out from his jeans pocket.

"Simon says door unlock."

The voice came from the other side of the door and a furious Penelope whirled in taking one look at the rumpled silhouette of Simon with his wand held loosely in his hand.

"What were you going to do with that? I hope you were thinking about checking the time?"

Her uniform was almost impeccable- Simon remembered that lessons were starting today- and this fact made him curse again.

"Just give me five minutes," Simon shouted at Penelope, rushing into the bathroom and simultaneously brushing his teeth and trying to straighten his hair.

"I'll meet you outside," Penelope replied, walking calmly out of the room as Simon began to strip out of his day-old clothes.

A few minutes later, Simon stumbled out of the dormitory with his tie crooked and his book bag over his shoulder.

"Honestly Simon, sometimes I wonder where you would be without me," Penelope said while straightening his tie.

"Late," Simon replied, "Or at least later than I am now," he amended.

"Speaking of late, we have no time for breakfast; we have to get to class." Penelope said, pulling Simon along the corridor after her.

"But Penny…" Simon whined as his stomach rumbled loudly, tripping over his untied shoelaces as he followed Penelope to the class.

"You should have thought about that before you woke up late. Have you never heard of this wonderful modern invention called an alarm clock?" Penelope asked sarcastically.

"Why are you so mean to me Penny?" Simon pouted as they pulled to a stop outside the classroom.

"I'm not as mean to you as he teachers would have been if you were even later," Penny replied. "And how do you expect yourself to defeat the Insidious Humdrum if you don't learn your spells?" They paused outside the huge wooden doors set in a stone arch and ignored the small bustles of the late students around them.

Penelope sighed and fixed Simon's hair, "there, now at least you look presentable." Simon smiled at her before taking a deep breath to still his erratic heart beat and then pushed open the wooden doors. Silence greeted them.

"Ah, it seems Mr Snow has finally decided to grace our spells class with his presence." Professor Plum exclaimed, striding down the aisle from the front of the classroom. Simon smiled, caught like a deer in the headlights and tried to use his charm.

"Hello Professor, you had a good summer, I hope?"

"Yes I did Mr Snow; I trust that you completed the holiday homework I set for you, that would make my holidays a lot better."

This stopped Simon's thoughts in their tracks, the spell holiday homework. He had completely forgotten about the homework that had been set before his latest run in with the Insidious Humdrum. This made him forgetful. Penelope, her head down, rifled into her book bag and pulled out pages of crisp paper. Then with a knowing glance at Simon, she retreated to the front of the classroom to take her assigned seat.

"Well Mr Snow," Professor Plum said, shaking out her charm bracelet and pointing it to the detentions list. Simon Snow appeared in her neat calligraphy below Howard Cooper.

"Detention, for a week!" Professor Plum gave Simon a stern look, then turned making her way back to the room. "Maybe this shall give Mr Snow time to finish his homework."

"Alright class, we shall practice the incantations for any dilemma in which you should have read about in the holidays." She gave a stern look over her glasses at Simon, "Using the words 'Simon says', ironically." While she continued talking Simon slid into the nearest seat, cheeks flushed with shame.

By the time the day ended, Simon was exhausted, and annoyed. When he got back to his dormitory and saw Baz lounging nonchalantly on his bed, he exploded.

"Why didn't you remind me about the holiday homework?" Simon snapped at Baz.

"Well, Snow" Baz replied, "first we were ignoring each other, then you stormed out of the room and I went to bed, leaving your spells book open to the right page on your desk, thinking that may just jog your memory, but no, you are too daft for that."

"It's just not…" Simon trailed. "Wait; did you just say what I think you just said? Did you really leave my book open to the right page to try to… help me?" he questioned.

Now Baz looked embarrassed, "Yes, it was a moment of weakness, don't worry, it won't happen again."

"Um, thanks… I guess," Simon said, "who knew you could actually be kind of nice."

"Don't go telling everyone," Baz griped, "It could ruin my reputation entirely."

"Yeah, well anyway, I'm going to head down to the common area," Simon said.

"And I care, why?" Baz asked in reply.

"You don't, I mean, it doesn't matter, bye," Simon stammered slightly in reply, almost running out the door to escape the awkward silence they had lapsed into.

**Note: We do not own Simon, or Baz, or Watford, this is all the property of Rainbow Rowell.**


	2. Of Detentions and Matchmaking

Detentions were always entertaining. This thought occupied Simon's brain as he made his way through crowded hallways. Girls giggled as he walked past, making Simon want to shout that he wasn't the hero everyone thought he was. On entering Professor Plum's classroom Simon inspected the silent room with an emotion close to curiosity, or, that could also be described as disgust. But, with an eyebrow twitch from the Professor, Simon took a seat beside Howard Cooper. Howard Cooper was an alright looking boy with pale blue eyes hidden behind dark frames and brown locks that always hung in tufts around his ears. Another thing that made Howard Cooper impressive in Simon's eyes was that he was a natural at spells, and Simon wasn't.

"Psst Howie."

Howard peered at Simon through his glasses.

"What's the answer to the holiday homework question five?" Simon smiled sheepishly.

Howard promptly turned his back on Simon drawing a piercing look from the Professor at the front of the classroom.

"Howie…. Howie…. Psssst HOWIE!" Simon hissed prodding Howard in time with his words with his wand. Truth be told, he was happy with how the detention was turning out, if only he could get Howard to help him.

Howard's blue eyes rolled up to the ceiling, "You're worse than the annoying orange."

Simon stopped short, "What's the annoying orange? How on earth can an orange be annoying?"

"Doesn't your orphanage have a computer? Or even a television?"

"Yeah, of course it does! But the television is permanently turned to the discovery channel."

Howard returned to his work.

"Howie, I could always tell Penelope about your feelings for her." Simon grinned, everyone in the whole of Watford knew of Howard's adoration of Penelope- apart from the girl herself, who was oblivious.

"Say it any louder could you?" Howard hissed, eyes sweeping around the almost empty classroom, hands wringing.

"Of course I could Howie, I'm glad you asked, would you like me to demonstrate?" Simon replied happily.

"No!" Howard almost yelled, drawing the glare of the Professor sitting at the front of the classroom. "Fine Simon, I'll help you with that question." Howard whispered, frowning at the boy beside him.

"That's very nice of you Howie, why are you in detention anyway?" Simon questioned.

"I got tripped as I walked into the classroom and as I fell I grabbed at the Professor's desk, making the objects for her demonstration fall to the ground. That is why I am here." Howard said, lowering his head onto his arms, folded on the desk.

"That's too bad Howie, you don't seem to have very good luck sometimes," Simon remarked.

"I know, and every time that I get up the nerve to talk to Penelope, something happens that prevents it," Howard said morosely, not lifting his head.

"I feel kind of bad for you, and you helped me with my homework, so what if I help you talk to Penelope?" Simon asked seriously.

"Would you really do that Simon?" Howard asked, finally raising his head.

"Of course," Simon replied, a determined look on his face.

Suddenly firm hands gripped both of the boys' heads and slammed them together. A sharp pain burst through Simon's temples and he shook off the offending hand and peered up into the too innocent eyes of the Professor.

"Have you boys finished your discussion?"

Both boys nodded down at their work, Simon smirking slightly and Howie blushing brightly.

"Next time you decide to make new friends, do it out in the corridor and not in my detentions! Understood Snow? Cooper?"

"Yes," they chorused.

"Good, oh, and Snow?" Simon looked up, "Well done defeating the Insidious Humdrum again last year, your spell work was most inspired. I wish you would show such promise in class, maybe it's a good thing you're next to Cooper."

With that Professor Plum swirled around and strode back to the front, her robes flying out behind her like wings.

Simon chuckled, "Golly, wouldn't want to get on her bad side, aye Howie?"

Howie ignored this comment, shooting a furtive look at the front of the classroom and turned to Simon, eyes shining.

"Would you really help me with Penelope?"

Simone smiled, "Yes, would you like me to shake on it?"

Howie grasped his hand in a surprisingly firm grip.

"Simon says he'll help me talk to Penelope, Deal?"

"Deal."

Magic coursed through Simon and Howie's veins as the deal was made. Simon gasped with the strength of it. They released each other's hands and grinned, now all Simon needed to do was formulate a plan to allow Howie to talk to Penelope, easier said than done.

"So Penelope…" Simon began the next morning at breakfast.

"Yes Simon," Penelope replied, not looking up from the book she was reading. "Did you want to thank me for getting you an alarm clock?"

"Um, no, that wasn't why I was going to talk to you but thanks for that, what I was really going to ask you was… um… what do you think about Howie Cooper?" Simon blurted out in a rush.

"Who?" Penelope replied, calmly continuing to eat her porridge.

Simon sighed in exasperation, quickly glancing around the dining hall and saw Howard looking at the two of them anxiously. He paused to give Howard a discreet thumbs up before turning back to Penny.

"Howard Cooper, he's in our year…" Simon trailed off.

"Is he in our spells class?" Penelope questioned, still looking unconcerned.

"Yes he is!" Simon said eagerly.

"Oh, he's the one who always beats me at spells," Penelope said.

Simon sighed; maybe this would be harder than he had thought.

"Who are you talking about?" Agatha asked, sliding into the seat opposite, Baz sitting down beside her.

"Simon was just telling me something about a Howard Cooper," Penelope stated.

"Is that the boy who has been in love with Penelope for years?" Baz asked vindictively.

"Shut up Baz," said Simon.

But Penelope had finally put her book down, looking shocked.

Simon quickly cut in, "NO, um, no, he doesn't like Penelope, I mean who likes Penelope?"

In the shocked silence that followed, Simon trailed off. "Oops."

"Am I that unlikeable? No-one could ever like me?" Penelope stood, her usually calm disposition abandoned and angry tears shining in her eyes.

From across the room, Simon could see Howie sinking down in his seat, head in his hands.

"That's not what I meant!" Simon spluttered, "I was just trying to say that Howard Cooper doesn't like you! That's all."

Penelope gathered her books and shoved them into her bag. Agatha and Baz wisely didn't get involved and started eating their breakfast.

"Simon sometimes you're just so, so…"

"Helpful?"

"Oblivious!" Penelope seemed to explode.

She started turning and then stopped, going toward Simon and leaning in threateningly. "And if this Howard Cooper likes me, he can tell me himself!"

Simon stood dumbstruck as Penelope flounced out of the dining hall, then he became aware of the many eyes upon them.

"Nothing to see here folks," he smiled as he hurried over to where Howie slouched.

"Penelope said-"

"I know what Penelope said, as does everyone in the room!"

Surprise flooded through Simon and he blinked.

"We weren't that loud."

"You were rivalling Professor O'Malley, and that's saying something," Howie groaned. "What will I do?"

"What else can you do? Tell Penelope how you feel."

"What, but no! I can't," Howard moaned, "my life is over."

"Stop being so melodramatic," Simon replied, "I said I'd help you and I will."

"I don't know if I want your help anymore," Howard said seriously.

"I'm offended," Simon said, "but not enough to stop helping you!"

Howard groaned, letting his head fall onto the table with a thunk.

The first lesson that morning was Magickal Creatures with Professor O'Malley.

"Welcome back," the Professor boomed in his thick accent, "You'll need to partner up, keep in mind these will be your partners for the rest of the year."

Simon desperately tried to catch Penny's eye, but alas she was still mad about the mishap of the morning, grabbing the person nearest to her to be her partner. That person just so happened to be, "Howie," Simon whispered in awe, giving the terrified looking boy a thumbs up. By the time this had occurred though, everyone else was paired up except….

"Snow and Pitch, you'll be together then," Professor O'Malley said, far too happily in Simon's opinion. "Alright then, your task for today is to wander around finding critters, I expect a full report by next lesson." He looked around happily.

"But sir, what if we don't find any creatures?" asked Agatha.

"Then you make something up for your report," the Professor replied, beaming around at the students.

He then turned to write something on his sheet and looked shocked to find the students still there. "What are you waiting for? Go on, get out of here! Scoot!"

Simon hurried off, not even allowing Baz to catch up to him. He wanted to keep Howie and Penelope in sight at all times. They weaved between the trees, Baz always a few steps behind Simon following the fast moving backs of the couple in front of them.

"Why so fast Snow? Where are you going?" Baz's voice seemed loud in the dimness of the woods.

"Would you shut up Pitch?" Simon had lost the backs of Howie and Penelope, so with an indignant sigh; he picked a random direction and began trudging forward.

"I would shut up, if you didn't end your comebacks with questions."

"Your interruption made me lose the backs of Howie and Penelope, who I was trying to follow."

Simon was now very confused as to where they were, it seemed all parts of the forest looked the same. Frustrated, he kicked at the soil while Baz leant against a tree.

"Were you planning on finding a magical creature anytime soon Snow? Because although you are rather thick, even you couldn't mess up O'Malley's simple instructions."

Simon glared at Baz.

"Maybe there's one here."

"Maybe there is, I've found one, have you?"

Simon, despite his hate was interested. "Is it that worm?"

Baz rolled his eyes, his tone laced with scorn. "You, Snow, you're a wizard, therefore you are a magical creature."

"But I can't write a report about myself!" Simon exclaimed. "Are you sure that worm isn't magical."

"I'm positive," Baz said, exasperated, rolling his eyes, "You'd write about me Snow, you're not very intelligent sometimes."

"I don't want to write about you," Simon said in disgust, "let's keep going, there must be another creature around here somewhere."

He picked yet another random direction and began walking, Baz sighed and began walking behind him, "Do you have any idea where we are, or where we are going, Snow?"

"No not really," Simon replied, "that's your job."

"Well then why are you leading, what with your rubbish sense of direction?" Baz questioned tiredly.

"Um, well, I was only leading because you weren't," Simon snapped back at Baz, continuing to walk forward.

"Snow, you might want to STOP!" Baz warned, as Simon walked straight up to the edge of a cliff, looking everywhere but forward.

"Wow that was close!" Simon said, turning back from the cliff. As he went to step away, the very edge of the cliff crumbled, leaving Simon with no footing. He windmilled madly, trying to catch his balance, while Baz ran forward- almost faster than should have been possible- grabbing Simon's arm as he fell. This left Simon swinging off of the cliff, the only thing stopping him from falling being Baz's hand on his arm.

"I don't trust you." Simon said, grasping Baz's forearm.

"Well, I don't trust you." Baz spat at him. Actually spat at him, bits of wet landing on Simon's cheeks.

"Why do you need to trust me?" Simon asked. "I'm the one hanging off a cliff."

Baz looked down at him distastefully, his arm shaking from Simon's weight. He swung his other arm down and Simon grabbed at it.

"Douglas J. Henning," Baz cursed breathlessly, his body inching forward. "Knowing you, you'll bring down the both of us just to spite me."

Simon gasped as he moved down another foot. His breath was moving in fast gasps now and as he peered over his shoulder at the river below he realised it was a long, long way down.

"Don't drop me." Simon gulped.

Baz's face twisted with strain, the muscles bulged and straining in his upper arms and gripping Simon's arms hard enough to leave a bruise. There was no way he would be able to hold on. Baz seemed to see the deathly panic on Simon's sweaty face and something changed in his eyes. Slowly, so slow that Simon wasn't even sure it was happening, Baz was hauling Simon up to the edge.

"Hold on." Baz grunted, his raven hair hanging into his eyes.

Simon tried to be helpful, using his feet to climb- almost like abseiling backwards- but this only succeeded in moving them back a foot. With one final effort, Baz managed to heave Simon's arms over the edge. Both of the boys panted, feeling the imminent danger subsiding slowly.

"What have you been eating, Snow?" Baz griped, once again gripping Simon's forearms in his vice-like grip.

"Oh, come on Baz, of all the comments…."

Finally Simon was safely away from the edge of the cliff, lying next to Baz, both of them chuckling.

"How on Earth did you do that?" Simon asked Baz in disbelief.

"An adrenaline rush, it's a well-documented scientific phenomenon, you can google it," Baz said defensively.

"Okay… no need to get all defensive…," Simon began, "thanks anyway Baz." He said sincerely.

"Don't worry about it; it's just what anyone would do."

"That's what makes it weird," Simon replied.

**Note: We do not own Simon, or Baz, or Watford, this is all the property of Rainbow Rowell.**


	3. A Histori of Eavesdropping!

If there was one good thing that had come out of Simon's near-death experience, it was that Penelope was now talking to him again.

"I should have been your partner," Penelope kept saying, blaming herself for what had happened.

"Luckily Baz managed to pull me up, I doubt you would have been able to Penny." Simon replied, "By the way, how was Howie as a partner?"

"Howard was a perfectly adequate partner, thank you Simon," Penelope said stiffly.

With that Simon turned, caught Howard's eye and mouthed "you're in", Howard rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Look Simon," Penelope was saying, "I'll talk to Professor O'Malley and see if we can switch partners, so that nothing like this will happen again."

"Oh no Penny, you heard what the Professor said, the people we paired up with will be our partners for the rest of the year." Simon said. "I'm sure we'll both survive with the partners we have."

Seeing Baz come in with a bad tempered look on his face, Simon began to rethink his last remark.

"What's wrong Baz?" Penelope asked.

Simon noticed that the bags under Baz's eyes were more pronounced; his usual regal posture slumped, and usually pushed back hair allowed to shadow his face.

"Nothing," Baz snapped, "I'm just…. Hungry."

"What would you like?" Simon asked, rising, "I'm sure I could talk the kitchen staff into getting it for you, I mean," he became serious, "It's the least I can do."

"I already have what I want Snow."

The bell rang signalling the start of the next lesson. Baz groaned and scowled at anyone who passed him.

"Time for class." Penelope grabbed her books and then hesitated.

"Are you guys coming?"

Simon stood and loosened his tie, stretching his arms behind his head. Baz just laughed.

"Not coming?" Simon asked.

"No, I have, shall we say, an appointment with the Mage."

With a private smile to himself, Baz left almost looking like he might fall asleep on his feet.

"Just us then." Penelope watched Simon curiously.

"Yes, just the two of us."

In previous years the Histori of Magick was taught by Professor Zither, but after the last year, he had retired and the teacher that had been found to take his position was Professor Sully. The name on Simon's timetable revealed nothing about the new professor, strangely though, Simon was unable to focus on that as they stood outside the classroom. All he could think about was whether he had become friends with his enemy.

As they all pushed their way into the classroom, Simon comforted himself with the knowledge that even though Baz had saved his life, and helped him multiple times since the year had started, that didn't make them friends. Did it?

While he was thinking he had stopped in the doorway of the classroom, it took Professor Sully clearing his throat in front of Simon for him to snap out of his daze.

"Excuse me, is there any reason you are blocking the entrance to my classroom?" the Professor asked.

'Wow, he's old' was the first thought that went through Simon's head as he looked at the 'new' teacher. "Um, no," Simon replied, "I was just thinking."

"Well then, you can go and think in your seat, I trust you can find your way there Mr…? Professor Sully replied, leaving the end of his statement open as a question.

There was a gasp from the classroom at large when they heard this. They couldn't fathom someone not having heard of Simon.

"Snow, Simon Snow." Simon replied hastily, stepping around Professor Sully and heading for the nearest empty seat.

"This year in Histori of Magick we will be dealing with Ancient History, and how Magick contributed or influenced Ancient cultures. Professor Sully began. "This is one of the most interesting parts of magical history that you are likely to ever study," he finished.

Simon looked around at the students seated around the room. None of his friends had taken the class, so none had witnessed Professor Sully's ignorance and Simon was glad of this. Looking at the unfamiliar faces though, he felt alone.

"As all of you know, wizards have been prominent throughout history, although there weren't always schools to hone or nourish this power." The class fell silent.

"It was common when the Roman Empire was being built that a technique that has become known as fragmentation was used. This could be done on purpose or accidentally depending on the individual's skill level."

Professor Sully wrote this on the blackboard, never pausing in his lecture.

"In short, this technique created a parallel version of a person, remaining at the age of the caster when the spell was cast. When this parallel version is created, it becomes a completely separate entity- able to use the full skill level of the original wizard."

Whispers started around the room.

"The Insidious Humdrum-"

"Simon wouldn't, couldn't-"

"I heard it was an eleven year old Snow."

Simon went cold all over, if the Insidious Humdrum was a fragment of himself, how could he be expected to defeat it?

Everyone stopped and stared as Simon slowly raised his hand.

"Ahh, yes, our thinker, Simon Snow wasn't it? What would you like to know?" Professor Sully smiled as is he couldn't sense the tension filling the room.

"You said, depending on the person's skill level they could accidentally create one of these…"

"Fragments. Yes, if a wizard is incredibly powerful they can cast one out of themselves accidentally."

The whispers began again.

"HOW?" Simon said. All was silent.

Professor Sully blinked in surprise, his eyes owlish behind his glasses. "Well, no-one knows, this is Ancient History we are talking about Mr… Mr."

"Snow," someone helpfully supplied.

"Quite right, Mr Snow, anyway, no-one knows for sure how this can happen, there are theories, but nothing definite. As I said before, this happened a long time ago." Professor Sully said, effectively ending the conversation.

"But what are the theories, Sir?" Simon asked, pressing his luck.

"That would take far too long and is off topic, we have much more to cover in this lesson." Professor Sully replied.

"Fine," Simon muttered, sinking down in his seat, resolving not to pay any attention for the rest of the lesson.

True to his word, Simon did not listen as Professor Sully prattled on about how the fragments brought about the fall of the Roman Empire, and were rumoured to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. In fact, Simon almost fell asleep, that's how deeply he was concentrating on not concentrating. He did pay attention when the class was dismissed though, and he rushed to catch Professor Sully before he left.

"Excuse me Professor?" Simon said.

The professor gave Simon a shrewd glance and began erasing the blackboard.

"I was wondering if you could tell me more about the theories behind accidentally creating a fragment."

Professor Sully froze.

"I can't tell you that. What if you go around trying to create one?"

Simon leant against the professor's desk, his courage draining out of him.

"What if I've already created one?"

Slowly, very slowly Professor Sully spun to face Simon, his face ash grey.

"Ah, Mr Snow, if you have accidentally created one. That is bad, very bad indeed."

"Why?"

"Because, as much as you try to be good and…."

"Helpful?" Simon couldn't help saying helpfully.

"Brave. The parallel version of you shall be bad and cowardly you should tell the Mage. He could help you far more than I ever could."

Simon was disappointed, the Mage had never told him about fragmentation, and if the Insidious Humdrum was one, shouldn't he be training to fight one? Professor Sully gathered his things.

"Please!"

Professor Sully turned, startled.

"Please," Simon's voice was almost a whisper, "how are they defeated?"

The professor surveyed him through calculating eyes as if he'd taken all that Simon was and placed it on his desk for all to see.

"Go see the Mage." He said finally.

Simon left, he had to find the Mage.

The Mage, however, was proving to be hard to find. Simon had searched the chemistry labs, the other classrooms, the corridor, the football pitch, anywhere and everywhere that he could think of that the Mage could possibly be.

Since the Mage was nowhere to be found, Simon decided to go to the next best person to go to if you had a question- Penelope.

"Hey Penelope, Simon said cheerfully as he sat in the seat beside hers in the library.

"Simon," Penelope greeted, not looking up from the multitude of books on the table before her, scribbling notes on a spare piece of paper.

"Penny, I've got a question for you…"

With this, Penelope gave Simon her full attention, quirking an eyebrow at him as is to tell him to get on with it.

"Well, um, you see, in the Histori of Magick" Simon started.

Penelope snorted, her disdain for Histori of Magick, and especially the teachers, was legendary. If she couldn't learn it from a book, it wasn't worth learning, and there was no practical component of Histori of Magick, so why would she take the class? That was her logic, anyway.

"Anyway, as I was saying we learnt about fragmentation today, do you know what that is? And where I can find information about it?" Simon asked desperately.

"I don't think I've ever come across that term," Penelope said thoughtfully, "why?"

"Because it sounds like the Insidious Humdrum!" Simon exclaimed.

Penny gave him a sharp look.

"Why do you think the Insidious Humdrum is a fragment?"

Simon explained all that he had been told about it by Professor Sully and how it sounded like the Insidious Humdrum.

"Why didn't you tell the Mage?" Penelope asked.

"That's just it!" Simon paced passionately, "the Mage isn't in and I haven't seen him since first day, a whole week."

"He's very busy Simon…"

"But he's not even in the school!" Simon paused and leant towards Penelope, suddenly serious, "What if something's happened? Something bad?"

"Simon! That's ridiculous."

A hurt expression flashed across Simon's face which he immediately covered with a laugh.

"Yeah, you're right Penny. Nothing could have happened to the Mage, it's only been a week, nothing could have happened."

Penelope studied him. Simon sounded as if he were trying to convince himself.

"I agree, apart from the fact it's been 10 days since the start of term, but Simon, I want you to promise me something."

"What?"

"Don't obsess over it." Simon opened up his mouth to object, "Don't say you don't, I know you do. But that's not what I want you to promise. I want you to promise you won't worry Baz about this."

"Why would I even tell him about this? It's not like we talk to each other."

Penelope studied Simon's defensive face.

"Just don't tell him, Baz has enough to worry about without worrying about you too. His first football game is in a week and the practices are every night."

Simon scoffed.

"What?"

"And so the games begin…."

"I don't understand," Penelope said, looking confused.

"Don't worry Penny; it's nothing important," Simon said, "thanks for all your help." He threw over his shoulder as he left the library.

As Simon walked down the hall, he reflected on what he had, or rather hadn't, learnt about the Insidious Humdrum that day. It was getting rather frustrating, always being the last one to know things. Sometimes it seemed to Simon that the Mage purposely kept him in the dark about important things.

Simon was preoccupied as he continued wandering around the school. He was jolted out of his thoughts by a loud argument coming from one of the classrooms. The door was closed, but due to the sheer volume of the conversation occurring inside, Simon could hear some of what was being said by the people in the classroom.

"But no, you can't." one of the voices exclaimed, a very familiar voice.

"I assure you, it is necessary," said the other voice, also a voice that Simon knew rather well, but colder than Simon had ever heard it before.

"It's not fair!"

"And would it be fair if you played?"

"But it wasn't my fault- I don't WANT this, I never wanted this-"

"It wouldn't be fair to the other players if you played in your condition; we're not even sure of what you are capable of."

There was a silence. Simon crept closer to the door, curiosity niggling at him. The voices were well and truly silent for several minutes before the same voice that was fighting to hard came, quiet and broken.

"I can't play football again, I understand."

'Baz.' Simon thought wildly, 'And the Mage.' He had to get out of there before Baz came out of the closed room. Simon scrambled back looking for a place to hide. Nothing was close enough to be of any use as a hiding place, so Simon braced himself to encounter Baz. The door opened and the tall lanky figure stepped out shutting the door behind him.

"Simon." Baz gritted his teeth, "How long have you been here?"

"Oh hello Baz." Simon tried to stride forward nonchalantly, failing miserably.

"How long?"

"Not long." Simon admitted, uncomfortable.

Baz came up to Simon, his face only an inch away from Simon's, teeth bared.

"How much did you hear?" He hissed, eyes alight with hatred.

"You can't play football anymore, why?" Simon almost stammered.

Instead of answering Baz shoved Simon away from him ignoring when Simon went sprawling onto the floor. He turned to go but paused.

"And Snow, the Mage is already gone."

Simon gaped "How did you know I was looking for him?"

Baz chuckled harshly, "Oh Simon, you're always looking for him." With this, he turned on his heel and strode away, leaving Simon staring after him, pondering the truth of his statement. By the time Simon checked in the classroom the discussion had taken place in, the Mage was already gone, and Simon was late for dinner. 

Note: We don't own anything, this is all Rainbow Rowell's!


	4. Wha-!

In the days leading up to the first football match of the year, Baz steadily grew more and more bad tempered.

Simon, of course, was used to it, after 7 years of sharing a room, you get to know someone rather well, even if you didn't particularly like them, or want to, and Baz had often been quite rude to Simon without needing any excuse.

When it had been announced that Baz wouldn't be able to play this year, there was a shocked silence in the dining hall. No-one could imagine football at Watford without Baz. He was as integral a part of the Brutal Bloodsuckers (other teams included the Wonderful Witches and Magical Mermen) as Penelope was of the library, it was impossible to imagine them being separated. And yet, it had happened, and it appeared that only Simon, Baz and the Mage knew that Baz hadn't wanted to quit, leaving his team without a forward a week before the start of the season.

The Mage was still being conspicuously absent from most meals, and whenever Simon tried to seek him out, he was nowhere to be found. Simon had no answers, only questions, about Baz, the Insidious Humdrum, and the Mage was the only person who held the answers. This was why when it was announced that the first football game of the year would be commentated by the Mage, Simon found himself sitting with numerous fans of the Brutal Bloodsuckers, in the rain.

"What's happening?" Simon hissed.

The rain was running in sleets, the crowd a sea of black raincoats.

"Seriously Simon, I can't believe you don't know the rules of football. It's simple." Penelope said, rolling her eyes.

"I don't play football." Simon watched the players covered in mud furiously trying to kick the ball into their goals. "And I don't like crowds."

Bad weather usually made Simon grumpy; by this time Penelope knew it and didn't comment (it usually made him worse).

"The centre for the Bloodsucker's, passes the ball onto the new forward, the Mermen are defending valiantly, but no-no the BLOODSUCKER'S GOT A GOAL." The crowd erupted into cheers, the stands on the opposite side of the pitch rivaling them in boos.

"Crowds." Simon mumbled.

Penelope promptly joined in the screams.

"Why did you even come Simon?" Penelope panted when the screams subsided.

"I told you, I heard the Mage was commentating this game and I need to talk to him." Simon could just see the Mage's figure huddled over the microphone.

"But Simon, he always commentates," Penelope couldn't help smiling.

Simon scowled, trying to think of a retort. Suddenly the crowd stirred, the players on the pitch stopped playing and stared, and Simon stood, shoving his way down the stands, his body filled with dread.

When he got to the pitch, he was almost… disappointed, everything was rather normal, for Watford that is. It appeared that after the first goal, Baz had appeared on the field and jumped on the captain of his old team, a boy in their year named Ryan Moore.

As Simon looked at the situation, he could tell why Baz was so irate, stupid Ryan had given Baz's old position to the only person in the whole school that Baz really hated- Monique de Lune- and she had just scored the first goal.

Simon got closer to the scuffle between the two boys 'of course Baz would never hit a girl, and so he went for Ryan,' Simon thought, rolling his eyes. Soon he, as well as a few other brave spectators were close enough to hear the words being exchanged, "How could you… I started this team… only person… I don't care… Not my fault." A never-ending stream of nearly intelligible yelling came from the boys fighting each other.

Reckless as always, Simon waded into the fray, grabbing Baz and quickly- before Baz realised what was happening- dragged him off the field.

"Calm down Baz," Simon said sternly. Looking at Baz, he could see something a bit… different about his roommate. "Are you in costume? Are you going to be the mascot of your old team?" Simon asked in disbelief.

"Mind your own business," Baz snarled, stalking off, leaving Simon with the image fixed in his mind of Baz with fangs.

Simon couldn't stay for the rest of the game, he had a throbbing headache (well that's what he told Penny). This was how it came to be that he was trudging back to the school when Agatha caught up to him.

"Simon, are you alright? I saw you and Baz leave the game early. Did you get into a fight or something?"

Simon sighed and turned to face her, "No Agatha, I got a headache from all the demonic screaming and Baz making a sceptical of himself and left."

"Sceptical?" Agatha giggled.

"What?"

"I think you mean spectacle," she bumped Simon's shoulder with her own.

"Why did you leave Agatha?" Simon asked.

They walked together, their arms almost touching.

"To see you, silly," Agatha smiled.

Simon stopped, shocked.

"Why would you do that?" he exclaimed incredulously.

Agatha stepped closer to him, looking around guiltily.

"You looked like you needed someone," Agatha whisper talked.

Simon still looked confused.

She sighed, "And I could be the someone that you need."

The confused expression turned into a shocked one. Simon, it seemed, had finally gotten the impression that Agatha was returning the feelings he had felt for her since he first laid eyes on her. He'd envisioned this moment so many times in his head, but now that it had happened Simon's own feelings were in a jumbled quivering mess, that he didn't have a clue how to untangle.

"Agatha," he began awkwardly, "I-I'm just not sure-"

And with that, he bolted, leaving Agatha in his wake.

When he got back to his dormitory, Baz was already there, and he'd taken off the fangs, Simon noted.

"Why did you fight Ryan? And why on Earth were you wearing fangs?" Simon asked, "I mean, I can understand cheering on your old team, but then jumping on the captain…" Simon trailed off as Baz stood from where he had been sitting on his bed and walked toward him.

"Do you ever be quiet?" Baz questioned, "And are you capable of keeping your nose out of other people's business?"

By this time Baz was almost too close to Simon, in his personal space, looming over him.

"Um, Baz-" Simon was interrupted by Baz stooping over and kissing him soundly- yes, their mouths connected.

"Well that's one way to shut you up," Baz said, his eyes sparkling with humour.

"Wha…" was all Simon could say, dazed, as Baz strode out of the room.

Simon could not believe that Baz had just done that, just kissed him like it was no big deal. They weren't even friends! Were they? And besides, he wasn't gay! Or was he?

His thoughts chased these same questions around and around as he lay on his bed, trying to process the events of the morning.

As he was thinking, about Baz, Agatha, the football match, the fight, fangs, he came to a realisation….

"Damn it," Simon muttered, "I liked it."


	5. Much Thinking

Thinking is a hard process for one such as Simon, over the years he'd developed a habit of sinking into a stupor, not initiating conversations and avoiding social events. It was as they said; men cannot multitask, especially when they are called Simon (as Penelope said).

"What's wrong with Simon?" numerous people had asked during the next week and a half.

"He gets like this when he thinks." Penny told each of them.

"I haven't seen him like this." Many replied.

Penelope smiled, "That's because he doesn't think often."

Simon finally shook off the stupor and made a decision one weekend, when he was spending time in the library. He was looking for answers, and finally Simon realised he had to meet the Mage- no matter how uncomfortable he felt after hearing the conversation between him and Baz.

"Simon?" Penny asked across the table.

He removed his reading glasses and smiled at her.

"I know where to start." Simon said.

"Oh how cryptic," she sighed and then smiled, "Go now, I'll find some other object to spend time with that won't converse, sits still and tries to think."

Simon blushed and went over to her, giving her an apologetic hug, "Sorry."

"That's fine, go, I'll keep trying to find out about fragmentation," Penelope reached across the table to grab Simon's half read textbook.

Simon pushed his despised glasses back onto his face, not bothering with the case, and flung his shoulder bag onto his shoulder. Striding away he made it to the door before bumping into someone in his haste. Apologising, Simon looked up into the familiar face of his roommate Tyrannus Basilton Pitch.

Needless to say in the past week and a half Simon had also been avoiding Baz. This was tricky when they shared a room, so he was not prepared for the rush of feelings that flooded through him as their eyes met.

"Snow," Baz acknowledged him, and then raised an eyebrow, "Since when do you wear glasses?"

"Since forever!" Simon snapped in reply, "and while we're on the topic of undiscovered things about each other. Since when have you wanted to kiss me?"

"Ah, so finally you're actually talking to me, it only took you about a week to get up the courage," Baz said in reply, "No need to get all worked up about it, it was just a little… experiment of mine."

"That's all?" Simon asked, crushed.

Some of what he was feeling must have showed on his face because Baz then said, in a much more sincere tone than he had used with Simon before,

"No, that's not all, but what did you really expect would come from this?"

"I-I don't know," Simon said, "I just thought-"

"Nothing, you never seem to think," Baz exclaimed, "we couldn't work, you don't know me."

With this said, Baz brushed past Simon into the library.

Simon was frozen, what did Baz mean? It was then that he decided that his next 'project' would be to work out what Baz meant. He hummed happily as he headed to the Mage's office. Simon decided that stealth would be the best way to catch the school's master unawares. So he slipped by the teacher's common room unnoticed and started climbing the dusty stairs that led to the Mage's office.

Decidedly puffed when he reached the top, Simon made the mistake of looking out a window, "Drat," he murmured.

A dizzying sense of vertigo came over him and he clung to the big wooden door in front of him. His happy humming had stopped. Looking over the window ledge it seemed that Simon had forgotten his fear of heights, no, not exactly heights, falling from a great height (this fear began after almost falling off a cliff).

"Simon? What are you doing here?"

Simon looked up to find the Mage standing above him, face creased.

"Mage!" Simon jumped up, fear forgotten and happiness retrieved. "I need to talk to you about the Insidious Humdrum, I think he's a-"

"Mr Snow, please get out of my way, I need to enter my office." The Mage said.

This stopped Simon short.

"Mage, this is important! I think I accidentally made a-"

"Simon!" the Mage's eyes blazed, "Stop trying to be the hero! Last year it seemed you thought the Insidious Humdrum was a-a unicorn, and now, well, now something else."

The hurt showed on Simon's face and he took a deep breath as if to ground himself.

"Listen to me," Simon insisted, "The Insidious Humdrum could be a fragment."

The Mage met and held Simon's gaze.

He said slowly, "If you wish to speak with me about this Mr Snow, please make an appointment, like everyone else has to."

Simon stood shell shocked as the Mage stepped around him, opening the door to his office and sighing heavily as if the whole world was on his shoulders.

"Don't grow up too quickly Simon," he murmured to himself, "the weight of responsibility could crush the heart out of you."

Before seeing the Mage, Simon had been quite cheerful really, he had decided on a plan of action and he was going to follow it, gosh darn it! The only problem with that is that other people didn't seem to want to go along with Simon's plans.

As he stared at the closed door in front of him, Simon was annoyed, at Baz, at the Mage, at the fact no-one seemed to want to make his life any easier, no, they all made it harder.

"Well," Simon muttered to himself, turning and walking down the stairs, away from the Mage's office. "If they want to play that way, I'll play." It was at that moment that Simon resolved to get to the bottom of, not only what Baz said, and what exactly the Insidious Humdrum was, but also the reason behind the Mage's strange behavior.

When he got to his dorm, Simon wrote a cordial note to the Mage, requesting an appointment as soon as possible. Once that was done he returned to the library, where Penny was still researching, but the seat Simon had been sitting in had been taken by Howard.

"How are you Howie?" Simon asked cordially.

He gave Simon a thumbs up.

"How did your talk to the Mage go?" Penelope asked, not looking up from where she was writing notes on a piece of paper. When Simon remained silent, she looked up and saw his face, "Why do you look like someone drowned a puppy?" she asked.

"What?" Simon exclaimed, snapping out of his mood, "Who's drowning puppies? Where?"

Penny laughed, "Oh Simon it's just an expression." Howard explained.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised if somebody was drowning puppies," Simon scowled.

"How was the Mage?"

Simon grimaced, "Oh lovely, now I have to book an appointment to see the Mage, even though I may have found out something crucial."

"We've had no more luck," Penny sighed.

" None of these books even mention fragmentation; it must be an ancient spell." Howard chimed in.

Simon looked at the books spread across the desk; he picked up the biggest and read the title a slow grin flooding across his face.

"Have you gone through this one?"

Penny glanced at it, "No, you see, we categorized the books by oldest to newest and then…"

Simon stopped listening and dug through his satchel, "I know it's in here somewhere," he muttered, digging through the mess.

"Therefore I didn't get around to it because it was one of the newest books, thickest and the colour-"

"Gotcha!" Simon cried triumphantly, cutting Penelope of.

"Green," she finished.

There was a stunned sort of silence where Penny and Simon stared at each other, Howie looking awkwardly between them. Simon was clutching his library card.

"I need this book, I think it could be very useful, in more than one way," Simon said cryptically.

"The Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures (created and born)" Howard read the title of the book.

"Well at least that might improve your Magickal Creatures grade!" Penny smiled.

Simon waved goodbye, borrowed the book and walked back to his room, a smile on his face. One step closer to finding out Baz's secret.

Simon was tired. Tired of reading this ginormous book (what had he been thinking?!) and tired of not knowing what was up with Baz. He had just gotten to the chapter on vampires when someone walked into the dorm room.

"Hello Penny, I've been searching all afternoon and I haven't found anything that fits," Simon groaned.

"What are you looking for?" A voice came from behind Simon, a voice that he was not expecting. Baz's voice.

"Um, nothing…" Simon said shiftily, "Just looking up… vampires," he said casually, pointing at the page in front of him.

"Why are you doing that? We didn't have to for Magickal Creatures." Baz asked suspiciously, his narrowed eyes staring straight at Simon.

Simon was like a rabbit stuck in the headlights of a car as he replied, "I was just doing a bit of extra reading…"

"You? Extra reading?" Baz said incredulously, "You're up to something Snow, and I'm going to find out what it is."

Simon couldn't help but notice that Baz looked rather tired, even more so than usual as he said this.

Without saying another word, Baz dropped his bag on his bed and headed down for dinner. Also without making a noise, Simon joined him. In silence they entered the dining hall. The table was empty as they sat down, Simon helping himself to the food and Baz sullen.

"Baz!" Agatha flung herself beside the sullen boy, embracing him.

Simon frowned thoughtfully as Penelope joined him, her books spilling across the table.

"What's going on with them?" Simon asked Penny.

Penny hesitated before answering, "Nothing, I don't know."

"What's going on with you?" Simon turned to Baz and Agatha.

"Baz asked me out…" Agatha trailed off smiling up into Baz's face.

"And she said yes." Baz finished.

Simon almost spat out his mouthful of food. Baz and Agatha?! As it was the news made him choke and the next few minutes were filled with Simon's hacking. After he caught his breath, an awkward silence ensued.

"Baz and… Agatha?" Simon finally asked.

"It might take us a while to get used to it." Penny smiled.

"I think that it's wonderful! I love having a handsome boyfriend."

Simon appeared to be in shock. "B-Ba-Baz!" His mouth had so much trouble spitting out words.

Baz remained silent.

"Simon," Agatha said anxiously, "Isn't it good news?"

Everyone turned to Simon who nervously squawked.

"Shut up Agatha," Baz ruffled her hair coolly, "Simon was just telling me before dinner that he was feeling off."

Simon stood, tripping over the end of the table in his haste.

"I'm still not feeling the best. Congratulations Agatha, I'm so glad you're happy. I'm going to go back to bed. Goodbye!"

Simon avoided Baz's gaze and hurried away before the tears gathering in his eyes fell.


	6. The Start of Something

The next morning when Simon woke up, it was earlier than usual, thanks to his alarm clock. The first thing he noticed was that the book-which he had thrown across the room in frustration the night before-was once again placed neatly on his desk.

"Why is Baz so confusing?" Simon pondered.

But then, remembering why he had woken up early in the first place, he jumped out of bed, striding confidently over to Baz's bed. Which was already empty. Simon stared at the bed, uncomprehendingly, gaping, his plan for the morning derailed already.

"Still gaping, Snow?"

Baz's voice came from the doorway into the bathroom, where he was leaning against the doorjamb.

"Why are you dating Agatha?" Simon blurted, his brain to mouth connection severed once again due to close proximity to Baz.

Baz just looked amused, "you don't know anything, do you Simon?" he asked with a wry twist of his mouth.

"Wha- did you just call me Simon?" Simon asked.

"No!" Baz exclaimed, a curiously vulnerable look on his face.

He started striding across the room, aiming for the door.

"Why do you keep on running?" Simon yelled, "Stop being such a coward."

Baz froze.

"You're calling me a coward, Snow?"

"Yes," Simon's bravado had drooped slightly, "Yes I am."

Baz turned.

"You think I'm being a coward for not letting you in? You think it's cowardice? That makes me deny my feelings for you?" Baz asked stepping closer.

"Yes." Simon stood his ground.

Baz came closer still.

"You don't know anything, Snow. You don't know half of what I'm capable of."

Baz's face contorted with fury, the last shards of his calm mask falling.

"Oh really? Don't I?" Simon yelled.

They were face to face, (or face to chest in Simon's case) the air between them crackling with tension.

"Well soon you might see," The mask was back in place, Baz's manner brisk, "I'm going to spend some time with my girlfriend. Goodbye Snow."

The barely contained fury in Baz's eyes made Simon take a step back as he swept out of the room without a glance back. Simon swore violently.

"Wait," Simon paused, "Did Baz say he had feelings for me?"

Simon's eyes flickered to his desk, the book. Baz had placed the book on the desk. Suddenly Simon had an irrational desire for the book to be on the floor. He walked over to it and swept it onto the ground where it fell open to the chapter about vampires. That's when Simon remembered that Baz had been too fast, too strong for a human and he'd seen Baz with fangs…. It all clicked.

"Baz is alone with Agatha."

Simon raced down to the dining hall where breakfast was being served.

"Penny, where is Baz?" Simon hissed as he slid to a stop beside the table.

"He and Agatha just left," Penny replied, looking up from her book, "they were going for a walk in the forest, why?"

"No time to explain Penny," Simon exclaimed, as he began speed walking away, "If I'm not back in a while, I'm probably dead."

"Simon…" Penny trailed off as Simon disappeared from view.

When Simon got outside, he had to blink; it was much darker than inside. The moon was still up, for goodness sake. It reminded him of why he never usually woke up anywhere near this early.

Gaining his bearing, Simon began to run toward the forest, hoping that he wasn't going to be too late. Simon ran as fast as he could. Faster. Casting spells on his feet and legs, casting spells on the branches and stones in his path.

He could already be too late-at first he thought he was, when he saw Agatha lying in a heap on the forest floor….But it was a trembling heap. Agatha may be frightened, but she was still whole.

Baz was kneeling over her, and trembling just as hard. His hair hung forward in a way he normally wouldn't allow, and his pale skin glowed oddly in the moonlight, like the inside of a shell. Simon wondered for a moment why Agatha wasn't trying to escape. 'She must be dazed', he thought, 'vampires could do that, couldn't they?'

"Go. Away." Baz hissed.

"Baz…" Simon said holding his hand out.

"Don't look at me."

Simon avoided Baz's eyes but he didn't look away.

"I'm not afraid of you." Simon said.

"You should be. I could kill you both. Her first, then you, before you'd even realised I was doing it. I'm so fast, Simon…"

His voice broke on the last two words.

"I know…"

"And so strong…"

"I know."

"And so thirsty."

Simon's voice was almost a whisper. "I know."

Baz's shoulders shook. Agatha started to sit up-she must be recovering. Simon looked at her gravely and shook his head. He took another step toward them. He was close now. In Baz's reach.

"I'm not afraid of you Baz."

"Why not?" Baz whined. It was an animal whine. Wounded.

"Because I know you. And I know you wouldn't hurt me."

Simon held out his hand and gently pushed back an errant lock of black hair. Baz's head tilted up with the touch, his fangs popped and gleaming.

"You're so strong Baz."

Baz reached for him then, clutching Simon around the waist and pressing his face into his stomach. Agatha slid out from between them and ran toward the fortress. Simon held Baz by the back of the neck and curved his body over him. "I know," Simon said. "I know everything."

"But you don't." Baz said bitterly, pulling his head back to look up at Simon. "You don't know what it's like, being a…vampire." Baz spat the word, self-loathing evident in his voice. "Having to drink blood to survive, being so thirsty and tempted all the time."

Baz's voice cracked on the last word.

"You'll never know what that is like Simon."

"No, I won't, but why does that matter?" Simon asked, clueless as to where Baz was going with this.

"Because, I can't be around you, I don't want to hurt you." Baz said pleading with Simon to understand.

"You won't." Simon said confidently.

"But what if I do? I'm a vampire, Simon, and vampires-I- drink blood, I crave blood, and it's only because I take a potion every month that I can handle not drinking blood." Baz exclaimed, exasperated with Simon.

"You won't Baz," Simon replied, "You've shared a dorm with me since we came to Watford, and you've never attacked me in my sleep, even though you had ample opportunity."

"I could have though, and that's what I'm afraid of." Baz confessed in a whisper.

"Well, I'm capable of hurting you," Simon said, "I'm a powerful wizard, I could do it."

"You wouldn't though." Baz replied.

"Precisely." Simon said, getting excited that he was going to make his point. "Just because someone is capable of something doesn't mean they will."

"But I'm dangerous, Simon." Baz stated.

"So am I," Simon replied.

Baz stood, body stooped over but his eyes were peaceful, the first time Simon had seen them that way.

"Please give us a chance, Baz."

Simon's words hung in the air between them, the stillness of the woods encompassing them.

"I can't." Baz's words were a sigh.

"You don't have feelings for Agatha; don't tell me that you do."

Baz laughed tiredly, "Proving what you know Simon?"

"Something like that."

Simon was relieved, Baz slowly seemed to be returning to the person Simon thought him like, returning to himself.

"What if I told you there was no us, Simon?"

Simon took a step closer, making up the distance between them, "you would be lying."

Baz wouldn't meet Simon's gaze.

"Please Baz. There can be an us if you give it a chance."

Baz slowly tilted his eyes down to meet Simon's.

"I don't know Snow, what's in it for me?" Baz smirked.

"Is that a yes then?" Simon asked confused.

"We'll see." Baz strode out of the clearing, back to Watford, just as the first rays of sunlight came over the horizon. Simon took that as a yes.

The day seemed to draw on forever. Simon lacked the enthusiasm that usually accompanied him where ever he went. The thing was, he was worried about seeing Baz again, knowing he was a vampire and everything else they admitted to each other.


	7. Little Black Snakey Things

Simon was dreading Magickal Creatures. He hadn't seen Baz since the morning before (which is pretty impressive when you share a room), and now he'd have to spend the whole lesson working with Baz. No wonder he was panicking.

"Hello Baz," Simon muttered to himself, trying to figure out how to greet him, "hey," "sup," "how are you?" nothing felt right. As Simon collapsed onto a log, he gave up on planning the perfect conversation starter, and decided to simply leave it to luck.

It was only a couple of minutes until the lesson began, and the logs (oh the wonders of an outdoor classroom) were beginning to fill up. There was one noticeable exception though, Baz still wasn't in class. 'What if he's avoiding me?' Simon wondered, 'what if he hates me?' Simon was beginning to panic even more when-

"Simon," Baz greeted, dropping gracefully onto the log beside Simon. He looked much better than he had the previous day, more alive somehow.

"Oh, hi Baz, how are you? Isn't the weather just lovely today? I hope class goes well, and we don't have to do anything too difficult," Simon stammered out, turning bright red.

"Well, if you're done with your conversation, Snow, maybe we can start our lesson," Professor O'Malley boomed. Baz meanwhile was chuckling quietly at Simon's side, the traitor! Simon became aware of the eyes that were on him and smiled sheepishly.

"With that over," Professor O'Malley cleared his throat, "Your Magickal Creatures assignment is due."

"Baz?!" Simon hissed, forgetting his shyness in his panic, "What assignment?"

Baz shot him a sideways glance and then turned back, "I thought you were doing research for your Magickal Creatures assignment."

"What assignment Baz?!" Simon was almost frantic.

Baz smiled, a first, and then answered, "If I didn't know any better Simon, I would say you hadn't done it."

Simon stared at him wordlessly.

"You really have to stop doing that Simon," Howard and Penelope said together and then blushed, taking a seat on the ground by the log.

"Doing what?" Simon was gobsmacked.

Suddenly Professor O'Malley was above them, "Where's your notes on the creature of your choice? C'mon, I haven't got all day."

Simon copied everyone, miming looking through his satchel whilst really thinking up an excuse to why it couldn't be done, when he found the notes he'd written about vampires to compare them to Baz. This in itself was not so strange, apart from the fact that Simon distinctly remembered leaving the page on his desk. Baz grabbed the sheet from Simon and handed it to the Professor with a flourish. Penelope and Howard looked as abashed as Simon felt, as Professor O'Malley grunted and moved away.

"Right, today's lesson is going to be done individually."

"I wonder how that got in there." Simon muttered.

Baz gave a wicked grin.

"I have no idea," he said innocently, turning back to face Professor O'Malley, who was explaining the days lesson.

"Alright everyone," Professor O'Malley said, beaming around at the class, "I've got a real treat for all of you today!"

"I hope it isn't like last time he had a 'treat' for us," Howard whispered to Simon across the table.

Simon winced at the memory of both Howie and him running around with fairies in their hair. His hair had been stuck like a bird's nest for days before the fairies tired of living there!

"I don't know," Penny said slyly, "I thought it was rather amusing."

"Penny you traitor!" Simon exclaimed, "I knew you were taking your time researching how to get rid of them!"

"It was a low priority Simon!" Penny defended, "and besides, either of you could have researched it for yourself." She glared at both Simon and Howie, who dropped his gaze, while Simon continued staring at her defiantly.

"Who ended up getting rid of them anyway?" Penny asked frostily. At that, Simon's gaze dropped guiltily, "Yeah, that's what I thought!" she finished triumphantly.

"Anyway," Professor O'Malley concluded, "now that we've gone over the safety precautions, I'm going to let you get on with today's lesson."

"Um…" Simon started, "Does anyone know what we're doing?"

Howie shrugged, "I wasn't paying attention, sorry."

Baz smirked, "Well, I'm off to start the lesson, because I was listening while you were arguing."

"I'm going to join him," Penelope smiled vindictively, "good luck."

Howie and Simon exchanged terrified looks and rushed off after the others.

"Grab yourselves some gloves to handle the critters."

A crowd had gathered around Professor O'Malley, so as hard as Simon and Howie tried, they couldn't see over the heads of those in front of them.

"Your task is to identify the creature, and keep it alive for the rest of the week, you'll be graded on this, so try your hardest."

With this, off he went, back through the forest, leaving his class alone in the clearing. Simon began pushing his way through people, and was almost at the front when he heard a cry-

"Ew! What are they?"

I was Penny's voice, and as Simon craned his head he could see what had made her act this way. Penny, in typical Penny fashion, had uncovered the lid off of a bucket that presumably held instructions to find wriggling mass, upon wriggling mass of black insects.

"Millipedes!" Howie hissed to Simon.

"How do you know?" Simon asked shocked.

"When you don't live in an ancient Wizarding estate, these critters are everywhere!" Howie exchanged a grin with Simon.

Penny and Baz had grabbed a millipede each in a gloved hand and were appearing to have a heated discussion on the magical powers that they may possess.

"OK, here's the plan," Simon waved his hands, "We let our creatures run wild and put an enchantment on them so we know where they are, got it?"

"Wow Simon," Howie paused, "That's actually smart."

"Millipedes never last long in captivity."

Howie stared.

"Watching only the Discovery Channel does teach you some things."

"At least your knowledge of that isn't from personal experience." Howard said, "I never knew what to feed them, I tried everything, chocolate, pizza, all my favourite foods, but it never worked."

Simon shook his head, "The people at the orphanage wouldn't have let me even think about keeping one."

"So anyway," Howard, looking around, "it looks like no-one from a fully wizarding family knows what a millipede is."

Simon laughed looking around, he noticed Baz and Penelope (mostly Penelope) panicking over what to do with their, 'little black snakey things'.

Howard joined in as Agatha began complaining that hers smelt.

"Bet she squished it!" Simon chuckled.

"That is the worst," Howard said, "My mum always hated it when people stepped on millipedes in my house."

"What are the two of you chatting about?" Baz asked smoothly sliding up alongside them.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Simon smiled innocently back at Baz.

"Hang on, do you know what these creatures are?" Baz asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Oh yeah, they're super poisonous when their toxin is combined with rubber, that's why Simon and I aren't wearing any gloves." Howard piped in.

Baz's eyes widened in shock, before he rolled them in exasperation as Simon and Howie roared into laughter.

"Do you know what these are?" Penny demanded.

"Um, yes…" Howie confessed sheepishly.

"But," Simon interrupted quickly, before Howie's resolve could melt any further in Penny's strong gaze, "this is an individual project, so we couldn't help you even if we wanted to."

If there was one thing that Penny abides to it's the rules, sadly the same could not be said of Baz. With one swift movement he upended his millipedes onto Simon's hair. There was a beat of shocked silence before-

"GET THEM OFF!"

Simon went racing around like a mad man, especially because Baz had gone overboard and grabbed ten. Howie laughed before Baz slowly met his gaze.

"That could be you, if no one tells us what they are."

"Millipedes!" It seemed that Howie didn't want the same fate as Simon.

Baz grinned vindictively, "And he thought he could get away with it."

Penny started talking to Howie about the magical properties of millipedes which left Baz and Agatha watching Simon, who had enlisted the help of some fan girls to remove the crawling insects from his head.

"I'm sorry." Baz stared straight ahead, "about before."

"About what?" Agatha said.

Baz half turned, noting the too innocent set of Agatha's eyebrows, about to ask her what she'd done when Simon returned.

"I got them off Baz, ha!" Simon said looking slightly like a mad scientist with his hair sticking out in all directions.

"Ah, yes, I see that you did get all the millipedes off."

Simon's face fell, he was crushed.

"Who told you?"

"Turns out Howard didn't want the same fate as you." Baz smirked.

"Great, I went through all that for nothing." Simon felt his dishevelled hair and groaned, "Not again, this always happens when Professor O'Malley has a treat."

Baz, Penelope and Howard just laughed at Simon.

"You won't be laughing," Simon said threateningly, "When you go to eat food and there are millipedes in it."

"You wouldn't," Howie gasped, "I ate one, accidentally and…never again." He shuddered in distaste.

"Ew." Penelope said, "You'd better not, you know what I can do to you in return."

Simon cringed, remembering some of her more embarrassing 'let's humiliate Simon because he did something stupid' pranks.

"You wouldn't dare do anything to me either, I know where you sleep." Baz said snarkily.

By the end of the lesson, rather a large proportion of the class had already killed their millipedes.

Simon and Howard, however, were feeling cautiously optimistic about their chances of getting a good grade on this project, and, once Penny and Baz understood that millipedes were harmless, and non-magical, they were guaranteed to be able to find good information to keep them alive for the week.

"Go free, Frederick." Simon said, releasing his millipede into the wild once he'd put the locating spell on it (this spell includes several 'blips' if you are interested).

"You named it?" Baz said incredulously.

"Of course I did." Simon exclaimed, "They grow up so fast."

Baz rolled his eyes and for the first time looked uncertain.

"Simon, a couple of us were thinking of playing a messing-around game of football, will you join?"

Simon laughed, "Aleistor almighty, is this the yes I was waiting for?"

Baz's permanent scowl lightened slightly, "H-"

"Alright, everyone gather up!" Professor O'Malley's voice boomed.

Simon jumped and whirled around to find the full-set man lumbering into the clearing.

"Where does he go?" Baz mussed.

"Maybe he has a secret girlfriend?" Simon smirked, leaving Frederick behind and striding back toward the other end.

"Or a wife, there's a ring on his finger." Baz observed.

"Guys, he's one of the Mage's close friends, they have coffee." Penelope joined them.

"Wait, how did you know this?" Simon asked.

Penelope paused, "I thought it was common knowledge."

"Obviously not." Baz stated.

"Now that, hopefully ya'all know what the creature is," O'Malley said once all were gathered.

One of the girls burst into tears, her friends tried to comfort her.

"Well," O'Malley continued, "Let's now hope that the creatures will survive the rest of the week in your care. Remember that you Magickal Creatures grade depends upon it."

It seemed that Professor O'Malley's speech was over, there was a stampede of Baz and Simon's classmates asking him questions about the creatures already dead, how they could save their grades.

"So about the football game…?" Baz drifted off.

"I'll see you there." Simon said determinedly.

Now all he had to do was learn how to play football within the day. And Simon logged Professor O'Malley as someone to look out for, if he was the Mage's friend, Simon reckoned that they should be better acquainted.

**We do not own many off these characters, they are Rainbow's!**


	8. How do you Football?

"Penny," Simon groaned, collapsing onto the chair next to her in the library, "I need your help."

"And what else is new?" Penny asked sarcastically.

"No really Penny, I need to learn to play football, by tomorrow."

Penny burst into laughter.

"This is serious Penny, please?" Simon pleaded.

Penny's laughter died away. "Are you actually serious? You who have hated football with a passion ever since you were born, is just now trying to learn to play it. Why?" she asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Well…" Simon began, starting to blush, "I may have been asked to play a game of football with some people."

"Oh Simon," Penelope sighed, "does this have anything to do with Baz?"

"What?" Simon said, "How did you guess that?"

"I'm not stupid, Simon, I can tell when two people have a mutual attraction for each other." Penelope stated.

"You knew all along?"

"Not all along." Penelope said. "But a, long. At least since fifth year when you insisted we follow Baz around the castle every other day. You made me go to all of his football games."

"To make sure he wasn't cheating," Simon said, out of habit.

"Right," Penelope said, "I was starting to wonder whether you'd ever figure it out. You have figured it out, haven't you?"

Simon felt himself smiling and blushing, not for the first time this week. Not for the fiftieth. "Yeah…"

"Good," Penny was suddenly all business, "I can help you with technique, as in the mental preparations. We might have to enlist the help of someone else for physical."

"Penny," Simon laughed, "I just have to look like I know what I'm doing."

Penny peered at the slightly built boy in front of her. "Then we will definitely need help."

In the end Howie was called and the three trudged to the secluded clearing in the forest where their Magickal Creatures lessons took place.

"First," Howie coached, "this is the ball."

"I know that stuff Howie!" Simon whined, grabbing the ball from Howie. "We only have a day and I need to know how to do the good stuff!"

"Like a bicycle kick?" Howie asked.

Simon's face said it all.

"And this is why we start at the beginning," Howie sighed, "So, this is the ball…"

The whole free afternoon was spent learning about football. Howie quickly discovered that Simon, although being talented in ducking, had no co-ordination or patience. At all.

"Patience Simon." Was heard a gazillion times, and by the end of the afternoon both Howie and Simon were covered in sweat.

"Really Simon, I thought you'd be a little more graceful than that." Penny sighed as she gathered the many books she'd read.

"Thanks Penny, really, I appreciate it." Simon winced at his own sarcasm, it seemed like Baz was rubbing off on him.

The darkness shifted a little nearer as the sun lowered on the horizon.

"Why do you need to know football anyway?" Howie asked grumpily.

"I was, um, invited to a game tomorrow." Simon said shiftily, exchanging a look with Penny.

"Oh, who with?" Howie asked, curious.

"Um, Baz…" Simon admitted, sheepishly.

"I noticed that the two of you seemed to be getting closer over the last couple of weeks." Howie stated, "Well, it's almost dark, and I think you're about as good as you're going to get by tomorrow."

"Okay," Penny said, "plan of attack for tomorrow-try to look like you know what you're doing when you walk out onto that pitch and good luck!"

"Thanks Penny, you inspire such confidence, with the confidence you have in me." Simon said sarcastically once again.

"I'm just telling it like it is, Simon, and you know it." Penny said realistically.

"She's right," Howie chimed in.

"Thanks guys for ganging up on me," Simon said, turning toward the school, already anticipating dinner.

"Don't be like that Simon, we helped you out today." Howie said, "I gave up half of my weekend for you!"

"And I appreciate it, I really do, but right now I'm tired, and hungry, and I just want to get back to my dorm and have a shower."

"Fair enough," Howie replied, "I'm sure you'll do fine tomorrow, just remember what we taught you."

"Thanks," Simon replied, as they began the trudge back up to the school. "I hope I'll do alright."

"And why is that?" Howie suddenly questioned. "Are you trying to impress someone?" he asked jokingly.

Simon's silence said it all.

"Oh wow," Howie exclaimed, "who? Is it Baz?"

**Sorry this is such a short chapter everyone, but I was away all week, so we only had a day or so to write it! Another chapter will be up next week as planned.**


	9. Awkwardness

Simon was stunned. Not only had Penny been able to guess his feelings so easily, it seemed that Howie had also read Simon like an open book.

"No," Simon said into the silence, "Yes. Maybe. I don't know."

Penny and Howie exchanged a look.

"At least now you can play football." Howie smiled sympathetically.

"Sort of." Penny winced.

"Hey! I got the hang of dribbling by the end!" Simon said indignantly.

"Only because you managed to stop ducking every time the ball came your way, and who helped you with that?" Penny smirked.

Simon 'accidentally' pushed Penny hard enough that she fell into Howie, who righted her with a laugh.

"Whoever you're trying to impress Simon, I'm sure they won't be able to help but be impressed with your efforts."

Howie's sincere words made Simon stop walking. The sweat was cooling on his skin and Simon's friends turned back, faces concerned.

"It's Baz." Simon admitted.

"Of course it is." Penny smiled, griping Howie's arm.

But it was Howie that surprised Simon by pulling him into a hug. Both boys were sweaty, and seriously needed to consider a shower, but that moment, something shifted in their friendship. Howie became a permanent part of Simon's most trusted, someone to rely on. And although Simon didn't know it yet, a test was coming that would require not only his strength but would test the strength of those closest to him.

Simon, hair still wet from the shower emerged into his empty dorm. He sat on his bed to tie his shoes, desperately trying to remember the rules, terminology and strategy of football that he'd spent the whole day learning.

Simon jumped as Baz strode into the room.

"Oh, hello Simon." Baz greeted casually.

"Hi Baz," Simon replied.

"Are you all ready for our game tomorrow?"

"I think so…..I mean, yes, of course I'm ready, I was born ready to play…..football….." Simon trailed off.

"Oh really? I've never seen you play before; I thought you might have needed some help."

"Me, need help? Of course not!" Simon laughed awkwardly.

"Regardless, I would have been happy to help if you had needed it." Baz said, feigning nonchalance, "I almost expected you to find me to ask for some tips or something…"

"Um, well, I should be fine." Simon replied blushing.

"That's good then Simon, you'll be playing goalie, I suppose you know all about that position then?"

Simon went pale, that was the only position they hadn't looked at in his crash course in football. Then again, how hard could it possibly be?

"S-s-sure Baz," He stammered, "I'd love to play goalie tomorrow."

"Great, I'll see you at dinner then." Baz flashed Simon one of his rare smiles as he walked into the bathroom.

"Oh no." Simon grumbled to himself, "What am I going to do?"

"I'm doomed." Simon groaned as he sat down with Penny and Howie at dinner.

"What's happened?" Penny asked.

"Baz has me playing goalie, I don't have any idea what I have to do to be a goalie!" Simon groaned, "We didn't go through this!"

"It's alright Simon; all the goalie does is stop the ball going into the goals. Simple." Howie explained.

Simon looked blank, "But how can I stop the ball without using my hands?"

"Goalies are allowed to use their hands, I'm more worried about your inability to see a ball without ducking," Howie sighed, chewing on part of his pizza.

Simon scanned the banquet table, taking in all the food with his eyes.

"I don't think I'm hungry anymore."

"Hey." Baz slid in beside Simon.

"Why, hello again Baz." Simon stammered.

"You seem surprised to see me, Simon. Although I mentioned that I would be seeing you at dinner….." Baz trailed off.

"Yes, well, we were just discussing the…..millipedes! From Magickal Creatures. How's yours going Penny?"

"Quite well, thankyou Simon." Penny raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"And yours Howard?" Baz inquired, shooting a suspicious glance at Simon.

"I-I don't know, I mean, I let it go in the forest after putting a locating spell on it, same as Simon." Howie filled his mouth with food, seemingly to get out of the awkward conversation.

Penny then escaped by starting her own conversation with Howie. Simon grimaced slightly before turning to Baz.

"Who's on our team tomorrow?"

"Oh, just some of my old teammates," Baz replied, "It's just a bit of a 'scratch match' to help them with training."

"Sounds great." Simon said, less than enthusiastically.

"I mean, I just thought, maybe this would be a good opportunity for you to meet some of my other friends." Baz said earnestly.

Simon melted. "I'm sure it will be." He paused. "But Baz I-I've never actually played goalie before."

"Don't worry Simon; I already knew you'd never played football before." Baz smirked, "Being goalie's pretty simple, I promise, and I really needed an extra player for my team."

"Alright then, but what exactly do I-wait, did you just say that you knew I didn't play football?"

"Yes Simon," Baz chuckled, actually chuckled! "I knew you had no idea about football and I had hoped that you would ask me for help. I guess that didn't work out too well for me, huh?" he smiled wryly.

"You, you, uh, what?" Simon was left speechless.

"Simon, I cannot understand you unless you actually speak English." Baz smirked.

"You really knew that I knew nothing about football, and yet you still wanted, I mean want, me to be on your team?" Simon managed to get out.

"Of course Simon, I'll always want you." Baz stated, matter of fact.

For the second time at dinner that night, Simon was left speechless.

There was a ringing in Simon's ears, and no matter how tightly he pulled the pillow around his ears; it wouldn't go away. Simon groaned.

"I'm awake; I'm awake." He murmured sleepily.

Something round and hard hit his pillow with the force of a small meteor. This woke Simon more considerably. And so he emerged from the depths of his bed, rumpled and disorientated. Baz grinned from his spot on the bed opposite, already dressed in his old training gear. Simon was sure the small meteor was Baz's handiwork.

"Morning Simon." Baz nodded, while bending to tie his shoe laces.

"What time is it?" Simon mumbled.

"Nine." Baz picked up the alarm clock he'd thrown; it had also magically stopped ringing upon impact with Simon's head.

"And why, my dear friend, why dids't thou wake me at this hour?"

"Simon," Baz grimaced, "We discussed this last night, athletes practise early, it's a habit. The football game starts at half past."

"Ok…..I'm up." Simon heaved himself into a sitting position, blinking absently at Baz, "What are you wearing?"

Baz glanced down at his clothes, "Exercising gear?"

"Oh." Simon smiled sheepishly, "I don't think I bought any of those with me this year."

Baz rolled his eyes, "This year? Or any year, as far as I can tell. Good thing I have spares."

Simon caught the balled up shorts and t-shirt that were thrown at him.

"They're a few years old. I thought they would be closest to your size."

"Baz?" Simon began, "These are still going to be too big…"

"Well Simon, I don't believe I've ever been as small as you are." Baz grinned wickedly.

"Good thing clothing doesn't impact on skill level." Simon bluffed, pulling on the clothes.

Baz snickered. "We'll see about that, won't we Simon?"

"Yeah, yeah." Simon grumbled, trying to flatten his hair, which was insisting on sticking up on one side. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Those are some fighting words there Simon. I'll see you on the pitch at half past."

"Okay, I'll see you there." Simon said to the back of Baz's head as he walked out the door.

"What am I doing?" Simon muttered to himself once Baz was gone. "Am I crazy?"

"Quite possibly, yes." Howie said, as he and Penny walked into Simon's room.

"Oh, haha, thanks guys." Simon said sarcastically.

"You were the one who asked, Simon." Penny pointed out.

"I know, but I'm not in the mood at the moment." Simon pouted. "What happens if I fail at playing football, in front of Baz?"

"Nothing." Penny replied.

Simon's mouth dropped open.

"It's true Simon," Howie said. "Baz likes you anyway, so why would your football skills change his mind?"

Simon, in the face of overwhelming logic, was once again struck speechless.

"Anyway, we'd better start heading to the pitch, here's some toast, and we'll be cheering for you." Penny said.

Simon broke out into a grin, "Thanks guys you're the best."

The toast had gone cold. Simon chewed on it, idly watching Baz joke with his numerous football team mates. It was times like these that Simon wished he'd been more involved in sports, any type, for it might serve to familiarise faces amongst the sea of strangers. Baz broke away from the group and approached Simon.

"C'mon Simon, I want you to meet them," Baz grasped Simon's forearm and lifted him free of the bench easily, tugging him towards the awaiting group. Simon struggled halfheartedly, trying to think of something to say.

"Hello."

Simon's head jerked up at the familiar voice, Ryan Moore, the current football captain smiled down at him.

"So you're the mate that Baz had to have join us although you utterly fail at football." Ryan said bluntly.

"Yes," Simon managed brightly "That's me."

"Give me a break Ryan." Baz's lips quirked.

"Baz and I have been mates forever." Ryan informed Simon. "Ever since he managed to kick a ball into my face…"

"To be fair, we were five at the time." Baz grimaced, "I do believe my skills have increased slightly since then."

"Though the last time we met it wasn't the ball flying at my face, it was Baz's fist!"

"You accepted Monique de Lune as my replacement, and you were there when…" Baz's mouth shut.

Ryan glanced at Simon, who makes the wise decision of remaining silent. Both boys were suddenly awkwardly looking anywhere but at each other.

"Baz, about that—" Ryan began.

"Hello boys."

Brash, bold, girly and confident. There was only one person who the voice could belong to.

"Ryan." Baz gritted his teeth.

"I'm sorry Baz, but she is a part of the team, so she needed to practice just as much as the rest of us. Don't worry though, you still get your position back, she'll be on the other team." Ryan said.

"Excuse me boys, but I'm still right here." The voice came again. "It's so lovely to see you all again, except….I don't think I've met you before." The smirking redhead turned to face Simon, her startlingly blue eyes piercing into Simon's.

Baz stepped in front of Simon. "You may not have met him, Monique," He spat her name, "but I'm sure you know who he is."

"Of course I do, Tyrannus," Monique returned his hostility, "but I am polite, unlike you."

"I am polite." Baz said, "To people who deserve it."

"Oh and I don't, I'm wounded, truly." With this Monique grinned, a predatory, sharklike grin that showed off her perfectly straight teeth. "Anyway, I'd better get going. I've got a match to win, see you on the pitch, Pitch." She turned and walked toward her own team.

"I'm really sorry mate, but after you quit she was the only one willing to play with us." Ryan said nervously.

"It's alright, Ryan, I've forgiven you, but we have to beat her team today." Baz replied, "Simon we'll try to keep them from getting too close to you as much as we possibly can, but please play as well as you can."

"Okay, I'll try." Simon squeaked, suddenly terrified.


	10. Sing a Song of Football!

Simon positioned himself in the middle of the goals he had to defend, knees slightly bent, arms bent at the elbows. Although his position was correct he felt like a salad at McDonalds, completely and utterly out of place. The too big clothing didn't help, Simon felt more conspicuous than usual, especially on a field with experienced football players.

"Woo! Simon!" Penny and Howie yelled from the stands.

Simon managed to flash them a smile and a wave, before nervously surveying the beginning of the game. It all began with a coin toss, something Simon had no idea actually began the game. This was between Ryan and one opposition. Ryan called heads and it was tails. And then they were off! The other team had the ball; it barely left their feet as they made their way down the field. Simon braced himself, just in time it seemed, because that was when the ball was passed to Monique. No matter how hard Penny and Howie shouted, the ball could not be retrieved, seemingly glued to Monique's foot. This was until the football was making its way towards Simon's face.

"Bloomin' eyes!" Simon managed to mutter, squinting to follow its path better.

In a half blind panic, Simon resorted to batting the air, and made contact with something solid. The football nestled itself between Simon's feet, Simon picked up the ball amongst his teams cheers. Baz ran up, beaming for the first time that Simon had ever seen.

"What are you waiting for Simon?" Baz's eyes twinkled.

"I don't know what I'm meant to do." Simon admitted, half panicked and half disgruntled.

Baz sighed, "Oh. All you have to do is kick the ball straight. You can do it Simon, kick it straight to Ryan."

Simon nodded, determined.

"Boys," Monique smirked, eyes flashing dangerously, "We don't have time for your little banter."

Simon kicked the ball.

He watched with bated breath as the ball flew through the air, appearing to be moving in slow motion to Simon's eyes.

Much to his surprise, it actually went somewhere close to where he had been hoping (with fingers crossed) that it would go.

Ryan actually managed to get the ball, which was more than Simon had dared to hope.

"Yes, good job Simon!" Penny yelled from the stands.

Simon glanced over, and Howie gave him a thumbs up.

With his confidence boosted, Simon turned his attention back to the game.

Ryan had managed to evade some of the defenders as he ran down the pitch toward the other end. He passed to Baz who headed for the goals.

Looking at Baz, Simon could see his passion for the game. Baz was born to be on a football pitch, to play football, and that is why it was such a shame that he couldn't play anymore. Simon felt a pang of sympathy for Baz.

In that moment, though, it didn't matter. Baz was where he wanted to be, playing the game that he loved. He could do no wrong, as he weaved around defenders until he was just facing the goalie. To Simon's awestruck eyes, Baz's kick looked perfect as it arced toward the goal. It looked good, like it was going in, until the goalkeeper jumped out of nowhere and managed to snatch the ball out of the air.

"No," Penny and Howie groaned from the sidelines.

Simon groaned, he knew the block of the other goalie meant that he had to block the other ball that was bound to come his way. He wasn't disappointed. The ball was kicked cleanly to the teams mid fielder and then onto Monique, despite the attempts of the defenders. Monique met Simon's gaze, she was close enough for him to see the strain in her muscles, definitely near enough for him to see the confident smirk she shot his way. She was concentrating so hard on the ball and goals that Simon could feel his instinctual need to duck almost take over. This was before a defender managed to slide the ball out from between her feet, passing it with a clean swift kick back to Ryan.

"You 'right?" he called over to Simon.

"Yep," Simon gulped in air; he'd forgotten how to breathe.

There were five minutes left, and Simon was exhausted. This was more due to nerves, rather than the actual physical exhaustion. Baz though, was in his element, he'd been smiling more than Simon had ever seen him. Also, Simon had seen Monique become more and more focussed onto him, determined to prove herself the better forward. It could have been a draw, this could probably be the best outcome, apart from the fact that Baz. Had. The. Ball. His skill was showing as he avoided defenders, ignoring frantic attempts at the ball, claiming his right to the title of the greatest forward Watford had ever seen. Monique appeared beside him.

"Something's wrong." Simon whispered.

Penny and Howie were standing in the stands; Penny seeing Simon watching shook her head deliberately, confirming what Simon had figured. Like always at Watford, something was happening behind the scenes. There was a flash of light and then the players were piled on top of each other, the rest of the teams stopped moving, frozen in their positions, a strange silence blanketing them. Simon dismissed his post at the goals and sprinted down the pitch, reaching the mass of people.

Baz sat on the ground where he had fallen when he was tripped, while Ryan was standing nearby, yelling at Monique, who everyone knew had caused Baz to fall.

"Why would you even do that, Monique?" Ryan was yelling, "It's just a scratch match, does it really mean that much to you that you would stoop to cheating in order to win?"

"And what exactly did I do, Ryan?" Monique asked calmly, perfectly composed.

"Don't even try that with me Monique, otherwise you'll be off the team," Ryan replied tiredly.

"Fine," Monique pouted, "I know when it's time to bow out graciously, unlike some people." With a last glare towards Baz, she turned on her heel and left.

"Are you alright mate?" Ryan asked Baz, giving him a hand off of the ground.

"I'm perfectly fine," Baz replied, "but a bit annoyed that she stopped me from scoring."

"It's okay," Ryan said with a grin, "by cheating, she automatically made her team forfeit, so we win by default."

"Still, it would have been nice to beat her fair and square, and see that smug look wiped off of her face," Baz said with a smirk.

"You all did really well!" Howie and Penny had made their way down from the stands, "good job at blocking the goals, Simon," Penny continued, "You didn't give in to you instinct to duck, I'm proud of you." She smiled at Simon.

"Thanks," Simon panted, he'd never felt so worn out.

A hand clasped his shoulder, Simon turned to find the smiling face and cool grey eyes that belonged to Ryan.

"So who are your friends?"

Penny and Howie hurried to introduce themselves, holding a captivating conversation with the Irish midfielder. Simon wandered over to where Baz was looming in the shadows of the stands.

"What'd you think?" Baz asked, glancing down at Simon.

"'Bout what?"

Baz smirked, "the game, Monique, Ryan, football."

Simon thought for a bit.

"Baz, I think I can only answer those questions when I have had a shower and my heart rate has slowed to a normal pace."

Baz laughed heartily, Simon marvelled at his ability to breathe normally straight after exercising.

"Okay Simon, I'll walk you back to our room."

The two boys walked away from their friends, away from the game and the reality of rain clouds forming above their heads.

Freshly showered and dressed, once again, in his own clothes Simon flopped on his bed and closed his eyes, ignoring Baz's figure sitting at his desk.

"Well?"

Simon turned his head, disturbing his hair and opening his eyes.

"Well what?"

"What are your opinions?" Baz seemed to continue doing his work, but his head was tilted towards Simon.

"Oh, um, what was I giving my opinions on, again?" Simon asked, confused.

"The game, Monique, Ryan, and football," Baz repeated.

"The game was alright, I don't think I'd be able to do it very often, I don't particularly like balls flying for my head, you're lucky I didn't duck at all, because that's my first reaction when someone kicks a ball at me."

"Well thanks for not giving in to that instinct then…."

"I don't like Monique, Ryan seemed nice, and I don't really think that football is the game for me, I think I'll leave it to you." Simon finished.

"And I'll leave the saving people to you," Baz smiled at Simon. "Thank you for coming out and playing, though, even though it interrupted your beauty sleep."

"Shut up," Simon smiled at Baz, "I was happy to do it, even though it stressed me out, learning a new sport in one day."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I could probably have come up with a better way for you to meet my friends, but I couldn't resist getting you to play football." Baz smirked, "It was almost as funny as I had thought it would be, the look on your face when the ball came anywhere near you was priceless. You looked terrified!"

"Thanks a lot Baz," Simon replied, "sometimes I wonder why I even put up with you!"

"Nah," Baz smirked, "the question is why should I put up with you?"

There was a silence, where Simon began considering what he wanted to say next.

"So what did Ryan think of me?" He couldn't help asking.

"He doesn't know why I wanted you to play so badly, but he knows everything else."

A silence asked the question that Simon couldn't.

"We're family friends, our families made us what we are." Baz smirked.

"I didn't have that," Simon murmured suddenly, dead serious, "I was the only one who could make myself at the orphanage."

There was a silence. Baz strove to change the subject.

"Do you know, that when we were kids, they'd sing us songs about you?"

"They did not," Simon said, throwing an apple at Baz.

Baz caught it and took a bite. "They did," he said with his mouth full. _"Comes, he comes, the Mage's Heir, with blade of fire and golden hair."_

Baz had a steady, warm singing voice.

"How did they know I was coming?" Simon muttered. "_I_ didn't even know I was coming."

"_Comes, he comes, the Mage's Heir,_

_And should evil meet him there,_

_The blood will flow, the world will know,_

_Our just and handsome,_

_Blue-eyed, winsome,_

_Lovely, blushing Mage's Heir."_

"You made that last part up," Simon said, feeling his cheeks burn.

Baz laughed and took another bite. "I made that last part up."


	11. The One where the Rumors Start

Simon was in a good mood when he walked into the dining hall on Monday morning. He'd had a great night sleep the night before, and they had pancakes being served for breakfast!

"I think today might be a good day," Simon said as he sat down with Penny and Howie, who was still half asleep.

"Don't speak too soon," Howie warned, his eyes barely open, "I don't like Mondays."

"I'm sure that today will be a good day, don't be such a downer, Howard." Penny chimed in.

"Yeah Howie," Simon echoed, digging into his pile of pancakes.

"Mmmm," Simon hummed his mouth full of delicious, syrupy goodness." "What can go wrong if you have pancakes?"

"Morning," Baz greeted as he sat beside Simon.

"Hello." Ryan added as he also sat with them.

Simon, who at just that moment had put a rather large amount of pancake into his mouth, merely waved at the newcomers, his cheeks bulging like a chipmunks as he frantically chewed his pancakes.

"Hello," Penny greeted, "We were just saying that we're sure that today will be a good day."

"Alright," Ryan replied, "Baz, mate, why are Monique and Agatha whispering and looking at you and Snow?"

Simon froze, another forkful of pancake halfway to his mouth.

"I didn't know they were friends."

"Neither did I…" Baz muttered grimly.

"What happened to it being a good day?" Howie attempted a smile (It really did look more like a grimace.)

No one answered, for they were all gazing upon the unlikely event that was Monique and Agatha. Abruptly, Monique turned on her heels, flashed the group a shark-like smile and strode over to her usual table.

"I wonder if her friends call her Mon-Mon?" Ryan said, reaching over the table to steal some of Howie's food, Howie had fallen asleep.

"Would you call the devil incarnated Di-Di?" Baz said scornfully.

"Could be," Penny sighed, "Or maybe it's a completely harmless reason and you guys are thinking too in-depth into this."

Baz nodded thoughtfully, "Could be."

Penny checked her watch, "Drat, there's only ten minutes to get to class."

The others exchanged glances, before there was eye rolling and bodies clamouring over the long sitting pews. All except for Howie, still seated, head resting on a clean bit of table. He snored slightly, oblivious to what was going on around him. Ryan winked, sat back down and delivered a hefty kick to Howie's leg.

"OWW!"

He woke with a jump, almost cursing as loud as O'Malley could talk. Then he joined the laughing group, limping slightly as they walked towards the door. All except Baz and Simon.

Baz grasped Simon's arm hissing urgently, "I don't know why they could be whispering with each other but it can't be good, it could never good. So I won't you to avoid them until I manage to find out what 'it' is."

"But Baz, what if they aren't up to anything?" Simon asked.

"Well then, we will have been wrong, and everything will be fine. But do you really believe that?" Baz asked in reply.

"No," Simon answered reluctantly, "but what can they really do that's that bad?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." With this, Baz turned on his heel and walked in the opposite direction from where Penny, Howie and Ryan were going.

Simon quickly caught up with them.

"Where's Baz going? We have class now." Ryan said.

"He thinks that Agatha and Monique are 'up to something', and he's going to 'find out what it is.'"

Ryan laughed, "Your impression of Baz is spot on, you got the whole dark, brooding, mysterious thing down pat."

"Thanks," Simon said, blushing.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know that spending so much time with Baz is making hum rub off on you." Penny said.

Ryan let out a surprised laugh. Howie joined in. Simon just blushed even brighter.

"Oh honestly boys, I meant his mannerisms, and you know it. Not that I'm saying there's anything-"

"Penny. Shut. Up." Simon bit out, mortified.

Howie and Ryan were laughing uncontrollably; they were starting to get weird looks from those passing by in the corridor.

"You're so immature," Penny said, striding off in a huff.

"Not everyone can be an eighteen year old eighty year old!" Ryan called after her, making Howie burst into laughter again.

Simon hung back, still following but not closely, he didn't really want to join in the conversation. He also didn't feel like doing work (who does on a Monday morning?) but spells class would not allow his attention to waver, and Professor Plum was able to keep the newly found alliance that was Howie and Ryan silent. Penny had returned to sit with them but was refusing to speak to Ryan, who found it hilariously funny. Three people who were conspicuously absent, however, were Baz, Agatha and Monique.

"Mr Snow?" The Professor's voice managed to bring Simon out of his deep stupor.

"Y-yes Professor?"

"Although I know you love my company, I'm fairly sure you would rather the company of your friends."

Simon was blank-faced.

"Snow, class is over." Professor smiled ironically, for she couldn't have smirked, could she?

Simon looked around at the empty seat all around him and was startled into a bright booming laugh.

"Sorry Plum, got lost in my thoughts." Simon bounded from the room.

"It's Professor to you, Simon." Professor Plum, remained in the empty classroom. "My name is Professor Plum…."

Simon walked through the corridors, people moved out of his way, staring at him with eyes that looked like they would pop out of their heads. And the whispers seemed to follow him, sweeping around the corners and under the floor.

Simon, however, was completely oblivious to the stares and whispering all around. That is until he was going to walk into the dining hall and Baz pulled him aside.

"Hey Simon, how would you like to go up to the dorm and stay there for the rest of the day?" Baz asked, trying to feign nonchalance, and failing miserably.

"Umm, I wouldn't, why?" Simon asked, confused.

Baz didn't say anything.

Finally Simon understood, "what did you find out?"

"They're just rumours, Simon, no-one knows anything concrete yet, just ignore them." Baz blurted out, "are you sure that I can't convince you to go up to the dorm for the rest of the day?!"

"I'm positive," Simon said resolutely, "It can't be too bad, after all, I've faced the Insidious Humdrum, and nothing can be difficult as that."

"Famous last words," Baz muttered to himself as he followed Simon into the dining room.

Everything was fine as they got their lunch and sat down other than the eyes that followed them everywhere.

As they sat down, Penny gave them a sympathetic look and Howie just looked mad.

"How can they do this?' He hissed, "How can they be so horrible?"

"Some people are just like that," Penny soothed, "I'm sure it will all blow over soon."

"What will all blow over soon?" Simon asked, exasperated.

Penny and Howie exchanged.

"Baz, I thought you were going to tell him, before he'd find out from one of the naïve people who listen to Monique."

Simon looked at Penny, who wouldn't meet his eyes. Slowly it seemed that Simon was beginning to understand that the gossip wasn't some petty story, if it was that powerful it must contain a grain of truth.

"What did Agatha tell Monique?" he asked.

"Nothing." Baz said quickly, too quickly.

"I can't-just-how?" Howie seemed almost ready to explode with anger.

"Calm down," Penny, always the voice of reason, said, "Baz, Simon has a right to know why people are staring and whispering."

At last Simon glanced around to spy the multitudes of people who were whispering through their hands to each other.

"Baz, tell me."

Baz smiled grimly, "Are you certain you don't want to go up to the dorm? My offer still holds."

At the sight of Simon's face, Baz sighed joylessly.

"Simon, they suspect everything."

Simon remembered the event in the clearing, Baz as a vampire and Agatha the victim.

"They know about your…" Simon glanced at Howie, "issue?"

"No." Baz gritted his teeth and glanced around, consciously lowering his voice. "They know about us."


	12. Just Simon

"W-what?" Simon spluttered, gaping like a fish at this unexpected piece of news.

"It's true Simon," Penny said soothingly, patting Simon's hand where it lay on the table.

"And people are being stupid about it," Ryan added, giving Simon a sympathetic look.

"Some people are just- stupid," Howie exploded, "it doesn't affect them in any way, so why is it even such a big deal?" he glared around at the dining hall, saving his dirtiest looks for where Agatha and Monique were sitting.

Simon was still in shock.

"It's okay, I'm sure that this will all blow over, and by this time next week everything will be back to normal," Penny said somewhat desperately.

"Agatha and Monique had better hope so," Howie said grimly, looking around at the group sitting around the table. Baz and Ryan nodded their agreement, while Penny rolled her eyes and Simon still gaped at nothing.

"How are they taking it?" Simon asked quietly.

"About as well as can be expected," Baz replied, equally as quietly, "they just found out their hero is in a relationship with someone of the same sex, of course there was going to be a bit of an uproar."

"I'm sorry Baz, for putting you through this," Simon said, looking down at the table.

"Don't apologise Simon, it's not me I'm worried about," Baz replied sincerely. "I'm a nobody, but you are their hero, they all think they have a right to an opinion on our relationship, and they could get quite vocal about it. I just hope that you will think it's all worth it."

"How are your old team mates taking this news?" Simon murmured.

"Fine, they suspected during the match. They've actually been defending some of the claims." Baz answered shortly.

"And all of your teachers?"

"Houdini, Simon!" Baz didn't raise his voice, but the tone was cutting, "Stop being so selfless! I will cope, people are scared of me and I have a reputation as being tough. You have no such reputation."

Ryan, Penny and Howie stared slightly stunned as Simon gathered his wits.

"How else am I meant to react?" his voice was soft, raw, "I am shocked, I am scared, I can't walk into class anymore without people looking at me differently, seeing a label. I want to be Simon. I'm just Simon."

"You're still Simon to us." Penny's voice quivered slightly.

"Simon," Baz whispered, this was a world just for the two of them, "Do you want to go somewhere away from here? Just for today while they are at their worst?"

"No," Simon was certain, "but I need to know what they're saying, what are they saying?"

They exchanged looks, none wanting to be the one to break the news.

"Well," said Ryan, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips, "they say you make a 'pretty' couple."

"And that the hating act that you two had for the past eight years was just a display to cover up your love." Penny bit her lip.

But it was Howie's words that rocked Simon's world the most.

"They're asking how a gay turd is going to defeat the Insidious Humdrum, ignoring or forgetting that you've already faced him every year since you began at the school."

"Howard," Penny hissed in reproach, "I thought we were going to reveal that slowly."

"Well Penelope," Howie replied, "Some things are like ripping off a Band-Aid, it's best to just get it over with."

"But still," Penny protested.

"No, it's alright. I should have expected this really, why would they bother respecting me and my decisions, after all, what have I ever done for them?" Simon's words were biting.

"Simon, it's going to be okay, we can get through this," Baz said.

"I know we can, but we shouldn't have to!" Simon exclaimed.

"No, you shouldn't, but that's just how people are, mostly stupid, and only occasionally kind." Ryan said.

"You're so optimistic Ryan," Baz said drily.

"I'm being realistic Baz," Ryan said, "Simon needs to be prepared for what could be coming in the next few days, and he is a public figure, so the backlash could be huge."

"Even among people who know you, and have known you for years the reactions have been quite extreme, so there's no telling what could happen next," Penny remarked, "we need a plan of action."

"I think we should just ignore it. We can't let them see that they get to us, they have no right to judge us, so we can just not listen to them," Simon said.

"Need I remind you of the backlash?"

Baz scowled ferociously at Ryan.

"I'll be fine, I mean, they're just words, right?" 

* * *

**Sorry that this weeks chapter is such a short one, we've had a lot on this week!**

**Hope you enjoyed it, though! :)**


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